As is known, in the production of knitted articles for forming items of clothing of the type of body suits, sleeveless tops, undershirts, bras, underpants or the like without lateral seams by using circular knitting machines, one of the main problems is the formation of the tabs that are designed to constitute the shoulder straps of the item of clothing or the front region and rear region of underpants or, more generally, solid regions of the article alternated with empty regions in the circumferential extension of the article. With the methods currently in use, these tabs are in fact obtained by removing, by cutting, at the end of the production of the article, which is formed monolithically in a tubular shape, the excess regions of the article, i.e., the regions of the article that are contiguous to the tabs to be obtained, which are then generally sewn together so as to close for example the shoulder strap or the crotch region of underpants.
In some cases, the portions of the article that are to be removed are produced with lower-value threads or with a smaller number of rows of knitting with respect to the remaining part of the article, so as to reduce the economic loss caused by waste.
As an alternative, these tabs are also obtained, directly during the formation of the article, by actuating the needle cylinder with a continuous rotary motion about its own axis and by cutting, in each instance, the threads used to form the tabs at the end of the formation of each row of the knitting that forms the corresponding tab.
In any case, owing to the fact that provision of the tabs requires cutting portions of the article or the threads at the edges of the tabs, an unsatisfactory finish effect is obtained, which requires additional work to obtain the finished product, such as for example the provision of hems or the application of finishing borders.